Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, under fire recently for allegedly misappropriating millions of money from the nation’s Central Provident Fund, has hit back at his accuser by trying to get him where he hurts most – his wallet.
Medical social worker Roy Yi-Ling Ngerng blogs at The Heart Truths in which he expresses views on various issues that many ordinary Singaporeans find close to heart. One of them is the Central Provident Fund (CPF), the Singapore Government’s mandated superannuation fund for citizens and permanent residents who make up the city-state’s workforce. Its administration falls under the auspices of the country’s Finance Ministry who set the rules governing its use by members. Employers are to make contribution to each member’s account by law. The money that goes in will then be used for various purposes like buying an apartment from the Housing and Development Board (HDB, the equivalent of the Housing Department) and covering healthcare costs under the Medishield scheme (a form of health insurance). Members have to maintain a minimum sum at all times and are not to touch that money until they reach retirement age (mandated at 67). However, critics say that many low-wage workers do not earn enough to maintain the minimum sum, not to mention the fact that many elderly folk continue working well into their twilight years out of pure necessity.
The way the CPF monies are invested also draws a lot of scrutiny. There is quite a lack of transparency in how affairs are handled in Singapore. The nation’s main sovereign fund, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) is tight-lipped on its investments, as is Temasek Holdings (TH), the government’s business arm. No surprise that both organisations are headed by people from the Prime Minister’s inner circle. There have been reports that both GIC and TH have been making heavy losses but nobody is yet to show concrete proof for now. It is widely believed that much of the CPF funds are used to prop up these two beleaguered organisations, an issue that is a sore point with the working class.
Having seen many patients being ripped off by his former employer, Tan Tock Seng Hospital while being denied access to their compulsory savings when they need it most, Ngerng is in quite a strong position to push their case. This he did on his blog where he compared PM Lee’s administration of the CPF funds to City Harvest Church founder Kong Hee’s misappropriation of church funds for commercial gain. This entry hit a raw nerve with PM Lee, the son of post-Independence leader Lee Kuan Yew. The elder Lee had built a reputation for using defamation lawsuits to silence his critics and many of his victims have included world-famous media outlets. As the proverbial goes, sons take after their fathers, and PM Lee is no exception. Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, a former Member of Parliament from the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has represented the Lee family in numerous defamation suits in the past. On this occasion, Singh was tasked with issuing a cease and desist order to Ngerng along with a demand for damages arising from his supposedly unsubstantiated and baseless claims of PM Lee’s impropriety.
Ngerng initially complied and apologised to PM Lee for hurting him, but later posted a video on YouTube saying he stood by his remarks about how the CPF funds were being managed. This was construed by PM Lee’s camp as lacking in sincerity. Ngerng engaged human rights lawyer M Ravi – known for his campaigns against capital punishment – to fight his case. An attempt to negotiate the amount of damages due to PM Lee was rejected, and a hearing has been set for 4 July. It is estimated that PM Lee is seeking no less than $250,000 from Ngerng, who turned to crowdfunding to pay for his legal expenses. He managed to raise almost $90,000 in less than two weeks.
Amid the legal troubles plaguing Ngerng, his employer dismissed him from his position for professional misconduct. On 7 June, he was a guest speaker at the “Return our CPF” rally held at Hong Lim Park. Subsequently, the opposition Singapore People’s Party (SPP) and National Solidarity Party (NSP) organised discussions on the same matter. Overnight, Ngerng went from a virtual unknown to someone who cared enough about the inequality facing his fellow men to speak up.The Economist ran a feature on him, and some sections of Hong Kong society got wind of Ngerng’s newfound fame too. On the sidelines, the PAP’s Wikipedia page was hacked, with the page renamed “Party Against People”.
All this got PM Lee on the defensive. He got his press secretary and the nation’s consul in Hong Kong to fire salvos at those who dared say anything that put him in a bad way. Their statements were roundly slammed by Reform Party (RP) secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam, whose father, the late J B Jeyaretnam was sued into bankruptcy by Lee Kuan Yew. Jeyaretnam senior had been a prominent opposition MP in the 1980s who got on the former PM’s wrong side too many times. Netizens were hinting that PM Lee may be tipped to win big when the case goes to court, but he has already lost the moral battle.
It would have been easy for Ngerng to keep quiet and simply move on with it. However, the issue of managing Singapore’s reserves and by extension, its citizens’ hard-earned savings was raised back in 1999 by the late Ong Teng Cheong during his presidency. At that time, the government had stonewalled when Ong called on GIC and TH to open up their books for scrutiny. It would not have taken much to figure that all was not well. Ngerng’s rant merely summed up 15 years’ worth of frustration at important questions not being answered. After all, there is no smoke without fire.
To sue an unemployed man for well over a quarter of a million dollars is akin to cutting off a pound of flesh from his heart, as the pain it brings cannot be described in words. It may also be an attempt to derail Ngerng’s bid for a place as a nominated Member of Parliament. PM Lee is going all the way to silence Ngerng and send out a warning to others who might be tempted to use social media as a weapon to undermine his authority. With elections due in less than two years, the heat is on him. Support for the PAP is at an all-time low of 60.1% and may slide as life gets tougher for ordinary Singaporeans and the rich-poor chasm gets wider by the hour. PM Lee should thank his lucky stars if the PAP manages to form a minority government after 2016 as his party has long overstayed their welcome.
Right now, all eyes are on Ngerng as he stands his ground against PM Lee in a David vs Goliath battle of epic proportions. Whatever the outcome, it cannot bode well for Singapore’s ruling elite.
Orble
*Article first appeared on http://www.orble.com/singapores-prime-minister-sues-blogger-for-a-pound-...